News

NEWS

CURRENT ACTIVITIES

First of, all , June 2016, I've just updated this website. The first time in 12 months. Apologies to anyone that's visited looking for up to date information.

I have two major current projects:

MANIFOLD: This is the multi-genre RPG I've been working on for over 12 months. It's like a refined and extended version of my "Code" book rules. It's been playtested at conventions across the country and the system is pretty stable now. It's nowhere near publishing as yet.

THE CODE OF Shōjo AND Shōnen: The Anime iteration of my "Code" game system - with special rules for Hentai Heroes (like the Power Rangers) and giant Mecha vs. Kaiju battles. Full playtested. I've commissioned a front cover. I will probably have to buy bespoke interior art - so this may form the basis of my first Kickstarter campaign.

AUGUST 2015 - JUNE 2016

The web-site wasn't updated. Sorry. If you want to know what I was getting up in these months, September 2015 to February 2016 is in my book "Conventional Thinking Volume 1". The rest will be in Volume 2.

August 2015
UPCOMING EVENTS

I'll be at the following events in the coming months:

SUMMER STABCON (Stockport) - 1st-3rd July
LONGCON (Sheffield) - 8th-10th July
SHADOWCON (London) - 27th August

I look forward to meeting you all there.UPCOMING EVENTS

I'll be at the following events in the coming months:

PLAY MARGATE - 21st-23rd August
SHADOWCON (London) - 29th-30th August
REUNICON (Brighton) - 5th September
CONCRETE COW (Milton Keynes) - 12th September
DRAGONDAZE (Newport) - 19th September

I look forward to meeting you all there.

August 2015

I've finished the first draft of the Anime rules. They're out for checking with some Anime fans and supporters of the CODE rules. I've also started to work on my new game. Tentatively called "Unbounded" the initial ideas look to be workable. So I'll be testing it over the next few months.

July 2015

I've had an idea for a new set of rules, somewhere between the ultra-lite CODE books and my more traditional Squadron UK set of rules. I intend to explore this over the next few months. In the meantime, I HAD been working on an Anime version of the CODE rules - THE CODE OF SHOJO AND SHONEN - I need to get them finished.

Friday 3rd June - Sunday 5th June

Summer StabCon. The friendly medium sized convention in Stockport. I took THE COMICS CODE out for a run, again. However, My main innovation at this convention was to use THE CODE OF THE SPACELANES to run some scenarios based upon the classic "Firefly" TV series. They went as well as I'd hoped and expected.

Thursday 28th May - Sunday 31st May

The BIG one. UK Games expo. The biggest games convention in the country. Excellent as ever. I ran a Squadron UK tournament. The prize in the final is the final scenario as a published book featuring all of the finalists' unique Superheroes. More news on this later.

I also ran loads of games of all my "code" books. THE CODE OF STEAM AND STEEL was nominated for "Best New Role-Playing Game" in the Expo awards but garnered some excellent Judges' Comments:

"Less than a tenner for a truly original system that combines well dice and narrative playing, easily on my top ten purchases of the year."

"Excellent game, easy to reference, fast to generate characters and faster to play, one for my group this year for sure."

Saturday 30th April

I travelled down to Dorchester for the inaugural CONTROLL convention - mainly as player. However, I ran a demonstration game of THE CODE OF STEAM AND STEEL in the evening, which went down well.

Saturday 18th and Sunday 9th April

THE CODE OF STEAM AND STEEL was officially launched at the SEVEN HILLS convention in Sheffield. SEVEN HILLS has a theme each year and this year's theme was "Steel". I was going to write some Steampunk rules any way, but aiming for this convention helped me with the title and the first two scenarios - "The Steel of the Gods" and "The Iron Chancellor". I also ran my Studio Ghibli scenario successfully again.

Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th April

I flew up to Edinburgh to be an invited Guest at Scotland's premiere gaming convention, CONPULSION. I spoke on two panels (How to Write and RPG and How to get your games Published). I also ran numerous games of THE CODE OF STEAM AND STEEL and THE COMIC CODE. All my usual scenarios plus the sequel to "The Steel of the Gods" called "The Iron Chancellor". I also ran a revised version of "Laputa - Castle in the Sky" which worked perfectly.

Saturday 14th March

I attended the excellent CONCRETE COW games convention in Milton Keynes, running my Dr Who scenario for THE CODE OF THE SPACELANES. I also used THE CODE OF STEAM AND STEEL RULES to run a scenario based upon the classic STUDIO GHIBLI film - "Laputa - Castle in the Sky". I was testing to see if the rules can be used to run Steampunk outside the proto-Victoriana I've used up until now. The rules worked for the genre but my scenario design tried to stay too close to the film plot. It needs to be more open.

For older news, click HERE

Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th February

I've run some demonstration games of all three CODE books at the London Anime and Gaming Convention. This is not a natural home for table top role-playing games but I was working with a great group of lads and - between us - we managed to hustle loads of newcomers into trying RPGs. Because of the format of the convention, I was asked to run one hour demonstrations of my games - to allow players to fit the games in between seminars and other events. I was able to do this by using prepared characters and very short term scenarios - SUPERHEROES AND DINOSAURS for THE COMICS CODE (with thanks to Matt West), THE APOCALYPSE ARTEFACT for the THE CODE OF THE SPACELANES (basically Star Trek's THE DOOMSDAY MACHINE episode) and a mad Prussian vivisectionist under St Paul's Cathedral forTHE CODE OF STEAM AND STEEL.

These short form games ran well, and there seems to be a particular interest in the for coming THE CODE OF STEAM AND STEEL.

Sunday 1st February

I've submitted details of a Squadron UK tournament I intend to run at the UK Games Expo in May. Details will be on the web-site soon. It's you chance to get a Superhero of your design into an official Squadron UK product and - even - win that product when it's published.

Friday 30th January through to Sunday 1st February

I was at the CONCEPTION games convention at the Hoburne Naish holiday camp down in Dorset. This is one of the biggest and best game conventions in the country. If you ever have the opportunity to go, I highly recommend it.

This year was a classic. There was a lovely "vibe" throughout this seamlessly organised event. I ran all of my games but, in particular, got to test THE CODE OF THE SPACELANES with scenarios based upon Star Trek and Dr. Who. Both of them worked well. The "defeat to victory" moment in the Star Trek game was worthy of Kirk himself and The Dr Who storyline felt totally genuine.

17th January

I've just received my first proof copy of my THE CODE OF STEAM AND STEEL steampunk rules in the post. I must say it looks awesome. Got to do some fiddling with the cover and a final proof-read. Apart from that, everything looks full steam ahead!

16th January

THE CODE OF THE SPACELANES has just received a 5 star rating on the RPGNOW website!

4th January

Launch of the new web-site. Why? Well I simply haven't been maintaining the old one. I'm hoping this website will be more informative and informal than my old one. I also intend to keep it more up-to-date.

Friday 2nd - Sunday 4th January 2015

I've just attended STABCON. This is a friendly, smallish bi-annual Gaming convention in Stockport that's just had its 25th anniversary. I'm not sure if that's 25 years or 25 conventions (12 years) and been organised by the same people all that time. Well organised and quirky it benefits from being based in a run of the mill hotel which makes it the best value weekend of gaming there is.

I had an extremely successful weekend being able to referee 4 sessions of my games - two of my CODE OF THE SPACELANES games and the first two playtests of my CODE OF STEAM AND STEEL steampunk rules. The playtests went well with extremely positive feedback. I also received the completed front cover for the rulebook during the weekend - which is a work of beauty.

Thanks to the organisers, anyone I met and anyone I played with!